Implantation and Pregnancy
Session: Poster Session C
Choi Heeji, MS
Master student
Sungshin women's university
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Uterine decidualization results in significant changes to function and shape of stromal cells, which is induced by steroid hormones. In some mammalian species, decidualization is required in embryo implantation, placentation development and can be associated with miscarriage. The misregulation of gene information during gametogenesis contributes to 12%–15% of infertility in couples worldwide. It is known that DAZ (Deleted in Azoospermia) gene family encodes potential RNA binding proteins that are expressed in prenatal and postnatal germ cells of males and females. At the molecular level, DAZL binds to many mRNA transcripts in the 3’-untranslated region (UTR) and functions as a repressor or activator of translation. Studies have shown that increased expression of DAZL is associated with induction of in vitro differentiation. So far, the expression and functions of Dazl gene are not known in pregnant uterus. In this study, we tried to examine how the expression of DAZL protein changes during decidualization and possible roles in implantation. In the expression levels were high on day 1 of pregnancy and decreased from day 2 until day 4. Its expression was significantly increased from day 5. The expression was increased by E2 and suppressed by ICI182,780 in ovariectomized mice model. DAZL protein was localized at decidual area. RNA-seq analysis of IP-DAZL revealed that DAZL binds to many RNAs during pregnancy including the gene products which involved in implantation. Although further studies are needed to evaluate the expression mechanism and roles in pregnancy, the results suggested that Dazl may be works during implantation.
Acknowledgement: This research was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by a Korea government (RS-2023-NR077285, (Old) NRF-2023R1A2C3007223